Renaissance
by Z of the Boneyard
Summary: Lelouch never expected to still be alive, but he lives with the satisfaction of creating a new and better world. He knew the best way to protect this new age was for no one to find out he survived.
1. Renaissance

**Hello my friends. I am Z. This is my first real fanfic, so I hope you guys like it. It is the first chapter of a story that I guess you could consider an R3 kind of thing. Anyway, here it is, I hope you enjoy it. Also, forget the fact that the phrase "Code Geass is actually in the title. The title is "Shades of Gray."**

**Disclaimer: Code Geass is property of Goro Taniguchi, Ichiro Okouchi, Clamp, and Sunrise. This fiction is fan-made (hence "fanfiction) and is in no way affiliated with the actual series.**

"Here he is, Lady C.C.," Jeremiah said.

A beautiful young lady turned her head to look at the most trusted of Emperor Lelouch's men, and then at the dead body of Lelouch that he held.

"Please bring him here," she requested.

"As you wish," he replied with a sympathetic undertone. He walked toward her, holding the limp body in his arms. The walk seemed to last an eternity; C.C. would know. Through the whole walk, Jeremiah tried to think of something to say to her. His respect for her was undeniable, but she was one of those people who made him think that no matter what he said, it would not make much of a difference.

When he reached C.C., she could tell he did not know what to say. She decided however, that the concern in his eyes was enough for her.

Jeremiah handed her the body of his master, and friend. One would think Lelouch's body was a priceless work of art with the care with which Jeremiah handed it off. There was a long silence once Lelouch was in C.C.'s arms.

"Thank you," C.C. said. Due to the softness of her voice, it would be more accurate to that say she cracked the silence rather than broke it.

Her gratitude came as a slight surprise to Jeremiah. He had never known C.C. to be one to express thanks or disappointment.

She gazed at the blood that stained his coat and the satisfied smile he bore on his inanimate face. She had seen his face many times before, but never had she seen this kind of smile on it.

_How ironic _she thought. Only in his demise, did he find something to genuinely smile about.

She held him close, as she had done a few times before. She cradled his limp head in her arms and stroked her hand through his bistre hair; she could not remember a time it felt this soft.

"You've done it, Lelouch," she said with restrained sorrow. She chuckled somberly as she talked to him. "The world will be a gentler place now. Nunnally will find happiness in keeping this new world gentle. All of your friends, the Black Knights, they will find happiness as well."

The slight tickling sensation on her cheeks let her know that her stoic disposition had been penetrated by her feelings. A few subtle tears found their way to her chin; she welcomed it as a feeling she had long since forgotten.

"It's a shame you can't experience it yourself…I figured you at least deserved to see the world you created, to see what you had given everything for."

As she looked at his face, so peaceful in death, she felt a blend of envy and grief in her heart. She pulled Lelouch closer, embracing him firmly, yet also gently.

"Lelouch," The name escaped her lips with the tenderness to lull a baby to sleep.

Suddenly she heard a sound that was almost inaudible. It was like the sound of someone calling your name from the other side of a house.

"C…C?"

Although it could barely be heard, this sound sent an echo that reverberated through her very soul.

She opened her own eyes to look into those of a man who had just been assassinated on live television.

Lelouch's eyes slowly opened, as if he were waking up from a coma. She saw his tired violet eyes stare up at her, though there was little focus in his stare.

"Lelouch?" she muttered as she looked at his inane face. She slowly reached out her trembling hand to touch his face. She did so with the fear that this was all some kind of self-induced hallucination and that she would only be touching a cold cheek.

What she felt was warmth on his face that spread through every vein in her body. Lelouch was alive, and she had never been more grateful to know she was not dreaming.

"Lelouch," she repeated the name with a kind of bliss that she had lost faith in many years ago. "But how-" she cut herself off when she saw a red mark on Lelouch's forehead through his hair that resembled a bird in flight.

"You have the Code?" she was asking herself more than Lelouch. Then she remembered what had happened inside the world of C. How Charles had been destroyed, and how he grabbed Lelouch with the hand that bore his Code.

_So he inherited Charles's Code? But he still had his Geass…he obtained both?!_

"Master Lelouch!" Jeremiah shouted, "He's alive! I had a gut feeling this would happen! Oh, thank God!" He fell to his knees in relief and nearly started crying himself.

"Lelouch?" this time it was the young man inquiring his own name, "No, I can't be him."

His words made C.C.'s heart nearly stop in the middle of a beat. She felt her blood run cold like a river freezing over and her eyes started shaking like leaves. Jeremiah stared wide-eyed at the young man.

"Lelouch vi Britannia is dead," Lelouch chuckled as he said this. Every second C.C. looked at his face felt like another eternity, and Lord knows she had already experienced one too many eternities.

"No, you are Lelouch," a deaf man could hear the anxiety in C.C.'s voice, "Lelouch Lamperouge, Zero, and the Man of Miracles. You had yourself killed to bring the world to peace and bring happiness to your sister!" She put more power into this one sentence than anything she had ever said or done before.

To her relief, it had apparently gotten through to Lelouch. She saw his eyes regain the focus and color she had always remembered them for. Lelouch looked down at his torso, and the blood that covered it. He ran the fingers of his right hand through it and stared at it for a few seconds.

"Lelouch Lamperouge," C.C. heard him whisper his name.

The blood that covered his torso became increasingly obvious to him. He brushed some of it onto his hand. For a long time he just sat there staring at it in amazement. It was the blood of Lelouch Vi Britannia, the blood that was supposed to atone for all the blood he had spilled.

"Lelouch Lamperouge!" he repeated. This time he shouted the name. He got to his feet, breaking out of C.C.'s embrace. He grabbed his head in his hands as if trying to crush it. His eyes widened and his pupils shrunk. They then proceeded to dart around the room in all directions. His breathing became heavy and rapid.

"No, I'm not alive," Lelouch stated, "I can't be!" at this point he was shouting. "This wasn't supposed to happen! Lelouch Vi Britannia had to die to destroy the hatred of the world; that was the Zero Requiem! It won't work if I'm still alive! Why am I alive?! Why?!"

Lelouch's voice had become almost psychotic. He could not remember a time when he was so unsure of what to do. He glared at the stained glass window in the center of the church wall as if he expected an angel to emerge from it and take him to Heaven. To his disappointment, all he saw were the many colors of the glass.

C.C. once again found herself feeling something she had not experienced in who knows how long. The trembling and fear in Lelouch's breath brought fear to her as well. C.C. had been with Lelouch through all his exploits as Zero and as the 99th Emperor of Britannia and she could never recall seeing Lelouch like this. Never before had she seen Lelouch, completely vulnerable. She did not know what to think of it, and she found herself scared for what felt like the first time.

"DAMN IT!" Lelouch screamed, forgetting that he was in a church. He fell to his knees, his head still in his hands. He knelt there, staring at the floor. Lelouch was angrier than he had ever been before; although, he was still more scared than angry. For once in his life, he felt like there was no way out. Lelouch had planned everything out so painstakingly and it was all executed so perfectly, except for the fact that he was still alive. He could not understand how the most crucial objective had somehow failed.

Suddenly Lelouch felt a hand on his shoulder. He spun his head around in the blink of an eye to see Jeremiah standing behind him. The expression on his face resembled that of a wise father

"Lelouch," he said, "what you did was an act of total self-sacrifice for the greater good. You accepted the price of peace without hesitation and even made sure the whole world was there to see it. Whether you are alive or not is irrelevant. The fact of the matter is that what you have done will change the world."

The speech sent a wave of tranquility over the chapel. Lelouch's concentrated demeanor returned to his face, much to the relief of C.C.

"Thank you, Jeremiah Gottwald, for everything," Lelouch responded. Jeremiah smiled contently. He knew Lelouch had reached a state of mind in which he no longer knew what the point of living was. Lelouch's simple expression of gratitude brought him enough satisfaction.

"You're loyalty is appreciated, and now I have one last request for you," Lelouch stated. Jeremiah nodded, awaiting this last request.

"Please," he said, "just get C.C. and I out of here. Take us to a safe place where we can lie low for a few days while we figure this out."

Jeremiah stood straight and saluted Lelouch in the most venerable fashion he had ever performed.

"Yes, My Lord," he intoned. He turned to leave, but was stopped by Lelouch's voice again.

"And Jeremiah, please just call me Lelouch."

Jeremiah looked at Lelouch again almost in tears. He was beside himself. "Yes, Lelouch." He then walked out the front doors of the church, a communicator in his hand.

C.C. looked at Lelouch, who had turned around to look at the stained-glass window again. She bore a small grin on her face.

"So, Zero can even come back from the dead."

Lelouch continued to look at the window.

"If it's any consolation, I'm happy you're alive," she said.

Lelouch lowered his gaze from the window; he had apparently heard this. When he faced C.C., the expression on his face made her smile vanish again. His eyes were open, but his face looked deader than when he was actually dead.

"C.C.," Lelouch mumbled her name. For a few seconds he stood there looking at C.C. with his lifeless expression. Finally, he started to make his way toward her. C.C. did not know what to make of it. She believed the fact that he was moving was a good sign, while Lelouch's blank expression also scared her to an extent.

When he had finally made it to her, he stood there for several seconds just looking into her golden eyes. Neither of them said a word.

C.C. finally decided to break the monotonous silence.

"Lelouch?"

She felt Lelouch's arms around her as soon as she said this. His embrace was slow and gentle. His head rested on her shoulder. Her heart beat accelerated to a point where just touching her body made Lelouch feel warm. After a few seconds C.C. heard Lelouch's voice in her ear.

"You're all I have left."

Her eyes widened upon hearing these words. It was just above a whisper, but she would have heard it halfway around the planet.

"When I died, I was supposed to bring the hatred of the world down with me. But of course, I never expected to still be alive. There's no way I can go back to the way things were. If there's even the slightest chance of anyone finding out I'm still alive, then not only will I become a danger to those I love, but I will once again become a cause of destruction in this world. I can't do that again."

C.C. knew this sorrow, all too well.

He spoke again, "Tell me, C.C., is this the beginning of an eternal death wish?"

C.C. didn't speak for a minute. Then she remembered something, and she returned his embrace. She answered Lelouch's question with one of her own.

"You once said you know my true wish; what do you believe it is?" she inquired.

Lelouch had not thought about that in a long time. He remembered his time in the World of C, and how C.C. had told him her wish was to die. He saved her from death, telling her he knew what her real wish was.

"Your wish is, to have something to live for," he affirmed. It sounded funny to C.C. She had never thought about it before. It had always seemed to her like there could be no reason to weather an everlasting life. The thought of actually having a reason had never crossed her mind before. The thought ricocheted all through her head distracting her from everything else.

"Was that correct?" Lelouch asked with a small grin. Hearing his voice snapped C.C. back to reality.

"Yes, yes it was," she confirmed. Here eyes retracted back to their normal size.

"Heh, I think that's a mutual wish now."

They separated from the embrace, while keeping their hands on each others shoulders. C.C. gazed at Lelouch's face with a kind of affection that neither she nor Lelouch recognized.

"Perhaps a new contract is in order," Lelouch stated. It brought hope back to C.C. to see him look alive again.

"I agree."

"We will give each other a reason to live."

"A reason to live..." C.C. repeated what Lelouch said, to get used to it, and just to hear it again.

"Lelouch, C.C.," Jeremiah called reentering the church, "a car has arrived. I am prepared to escort you out of the city immediately."

"Thank you, Jeremiah. C.C., let's get out of here."

C.C. simply smiled and nodded. They then followed Jeremiah out of the church.


	2. The King's Exodus

**Hello my friends. Here I am with chapter 2 of Renaissance. You may notice that this one is considerably shorter than chapter 1. The reason being is that I felt I had found a good stopping point for this chapter, and also I thought it would be good if I didn't try to make it too long. Anyway, thank you for the views and REviews, and I hope you guys enjoy this. PLEASE review. I love getting reviews, makes me feel good.**

**Disclaimer: Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use.**

**That's right I'm getting exact. Anyway, Code Geass is property of Goro Taniguchi, Ichiro Okouchi, Clamp, and Sunrise. This fiction is fan-made and is in no way affiliated with the actual series. Ok now I'm gonna shut up and get on with the story.**

Getting through the city was a difficult task, even when compared to everything Lelouch had done in his affairs as Zero and Emperor of Britannia. Lelouch's position did not allow him to see the people on the outside, but he could certainly hear them.

"My my, Lelouch," Jeremiah spoke up, "is this how you pictured the people's reaction?"

"Exactly what I was hoping for," Lelouch replied from the back of the car. Jeremiah laughed.

The fact that his death was the cause of all the happiness around him meant less than nothing to him. All he could think about was how perfectly everything had fallen into place. The only drawback being that he was still alive, which at this point served no ill purpose. These shouts of joy would be the first of many in a new and kinder world for which he had paved the way.

"Who says the world can't profit from a man's death?" Lelouch remarked.

C.C. acknowledged the exultant smile on Lelouch's face, and she felt a smile curling up her lips in return. For the first time since they had met, she could tell Lelouch had allowed himself to be at peace. For whatever reason, she allowed it to rub off on her without hesitation. It was the first time she could remember feeling happy for anyone.

Through the back window of the car C.C. observed the cause of Lelouch's happiness: the relief and ecstasy of the citizens. Men, women, and children ran in every direction, the anxiety brought upon by tyranny lifted from their conscience. It astounded her that so many people would be uplifted because of a single man.

One group of people in particular stood out to her: a family of five standing right outside what she assumed was their home. A tall brown-haired man with a strong physique embraced a beautiful woman with long blonde hair. Next to them were three children: A teenaged boy with his father's figure and his mother's hair, a smaller girl who also possessed her mother's hair, and finally a boy holding his sister's hand. He had his father's dark brown hair, but he was considerably thinner than his father or brother.

C.C. looked at this one for a while. He was one of those people with a face that was hard to ignore. The boy was grinning, but C.C. could tell by his eyes that he wasn't exactly sure what he was grinning about. Judging by his size, she judged that he was at an age where he was just beginning to learn about the world, but still retained the innocence only a child could possess.

_You've made the future for this one, _C.C. thought.

She noticed the boy turn his head in her direction. Lelouch had made sure to keep himself hidden, but C.C., being in plain sight, just let the boy return her gaze. It was difficult to tell from where she was, but the boy's eyes appeared to be of the same gold color as hers. She lifted her hand and waved at him, to which he smiled big and waved back. C.C. never thought that a child's smile could be so astonishingly beautiful. She lowered her arm to place it over her stomach. An odd sensation bounded throughout it. It felt so warm to her. It hurt slightly; yet, she did not want it to stop.

"You alright?" Lelouch inquired.

C.C. suddenly remembered Lelouch's being right next to her.

"Yes, I'm fine."

"Are you smiling?"

C.C. gazed at him through her peripherals. She could not remember ever seeing him this happy.

"So what if I am?" she replied.

Lelouch decided that answer was good enough for him; he felt it was better not to question C.C.'s smile. Just seeing a smile on her face, whether it was his doing or not, gave him the sense that the world was already changing. Her smile was like the first and most poignant sign of the coming age.

"We've gotten through most of the crowds. We'll be out of here soon," Jeremiah stated.

Lelouch's train of thought was thrown off by Jeremiah's alert.

"Very good," Lelouch said. He turned his attention to the city behind them once again. As he looked, the memories of all he had done rushed into his mind. He remembered everyone he had endangered, everyone he had lied to, everyone he had killed, and everyone who had died because of him. He remembered Clovis, the Knights of Rounds, Sayoko, Jeremiah, Villetta, Xingke, Tianzi, Kaguya, his brothers and sisters, all of the Black Knights, Nina, Rivalz, Milly, Kallen, Euphemia, Rolo, Shirley. Then he thought of the very reason he ever did anything. He thought of Nunnally; her soft, innocent smile, her gentle touch, her benevolent nature, and how she would lead the world. He then thought of Suzaku; his friend, his adversary, his knight, and now, Zero.

_Suzaku, Nunnally, this world no longer needs me. This world is ready for a new generation guided by leaders who can help without hurting. Nunnally, you know better than anyone that regardless of the outcome, live should not have to be lost to achieve it. You will become the mother of the world; a kind soul who confronts problems not with a sword and shield, but with open arms and a welcoming smile. Suzaku, as Zero you are now the protector of the peace, and therefore, the protector or Nunnally. Heh, it's almost funny, Nunnally, you now have the ability to help the entire world realize your wish. A gentler world: that is what you will make._

"We're at the city limits," Jeremiah reported.

"Excellent," Lelouch replied. He still did not take his eyes off the city.

As Lelouch watched the place get smaller behind them, he allowed himself to relax for the first time in nearly three years. His job was done.

His eyelids began to shut. Sleep had almost broken through when something hit his shoulder, bringing him back to his conscious. He looked to his left shoulder to see what it was that had startled him. Lying on his shoulder was C.C.'s head, her eyes closed in deep sleep. She had apparently been asleep for a while.

Seeing C.C. sleep had always been fascinating to Lelouch, for some reason. He never really knew why she seemed so mystifying in her sleep. He initially thought the reason was simply because he liked to see her quiet. He also couldn't deny that she looked angelic in sleep. Maybe it was because he wondered what she dreamed about. She had, after all, been around for quite some time and probably had quite a lot to dream about.

_Did she ever dream about death? _He asked himself.

Lelouch found himself thinking about this deeply as he watched her like he used to watch Nunnally as she slept. Her long green hair shone brilliantly in the still high sun. It surprised Lelouch how content he was just watching her sleep. It occurred to him at that point that although he had done what he had aspired to do, C.C. was still with him, as she had been the whole time. When he became Zero, she was there; when Cornelia nearly discovered him in the Saitama ghetto, she was there; when Nunnally was abducted during the Black Rebellion, she was there; when he was nearly killed by Barons before his memory was recovered, she was there; when his mother and father were destroyed by the world of C, she was there; and when he was forced to take control of the Damocles, she was there. He had thought many times before about how his plan never would have accelerated without her, but never before had it hit him this hard. He smiled at her, even though she could not see it, and he said her real name, though she could not hear it.

"I can't get rid of you can I?"


End file.
